Introduction: How to Inlay Opal in a Pre-Channeled Ring Using UV Resin
Follow these directions and you’ll learn a quick and easy way to create a stunning ring using a pre-channeled ring blank, crushed opal, UV-cure resin, and simple tools. Click to watch the time-lapse video that shows the process.
Caution: Wear all required safety gear when using cleaners/glues, when sanding/polishing, and working with UV light.
DIY RING WORKSTATION: download a plan to make a workstation from scrap ¾” plywood or MDF. Click HERE.
DIY RING MANDREL: download an easy-to-make mandrel plan to hold your ring securely while you work. Click HERE.
DIY MORTAR AND PESTLE RAM: download a pipe ram plan used to crush opal and other inlay materials. Click HERE.
More Inlay How To/Videos HERE:
First, gather these tools and materials, below. You may have many of them in your shop or you can find resource links to all recommended TOOLS and MATERIALS HERE:
TOOLS
Electric hand drill
A rotary tool like a Dremel® with sanding drum and buffing wheel
Fine tweezers (I prefer an offset one with a 45-degree end)
Popsicle sticks
Toothpicks
Magnifying visor (helpful but not required)
MATERIALS
Ring channel blanks (I recommend you buy two, just in case one breaks during the inlay process)
Cultured Opal - (at least ~.3 grams required for a 9.5 size ring)
Solarez Flex/Hard UV doming resin (available at EasyInlay.com)
UV flashlight – calibrated to Solarez resin – 285 nm (available at EasyInlay.com)
Acetone, nail polish remover, or other solvent
Denatured alcohol
Blendal pigment or other ink/stain
Wax paper or small paper plates
Sand paper – 80, 120, 240, 320, 400, 600
Micro mesh sanding pads 1500 – 12000 microns
Compressedor canned air
Gloves, safety glasses, and dust mask
Step 1: Clean Your Ring Channel
Take your ring and clean it with acetone, nail polish remover, or other strong solvent to remove any existing wax or oils. Make sure you clean the groove to prepare it for inlay materials.
Step 2: If You Want to Strengthen Your Ring...
Wooden and ceramic rings are designed to break away (for people who are concerned with catching their rings on equipment), so if you’re working with a wood ring blank, start by soaking it with thin CA glue (I like Gluboost Ultra Thin) to help strengthen the wood fibers. This step makes the rings stronger but still allows for a breakaway.
Shake off any excess glue and set the ring on wax paper to dry. Do not use any accelerator. This step is not necessary for ceramic or metal ring cores, and/or if you do not wish to strengthen a wooden ring with CA.
Step 3: Install on the Mandrel and Scuff Sand
Install your ring onto your home-made or store-bought mandrel and gently tighten the nut to compress and expand the faucet washer. Turn the nut ¼ turns at a time and test the grab of the ring. Do not over-tighten as you risk breaking the ring from too much tension.
After the CA is completely dry, scuff sand the entire ring and sand out any hardened glue drops. I use a tongue depressor or popsicle stick wrapped with 120 grit sand paper.
Step 4: Prepare for Pigment
Clean any dust off with denatured alcohol. Do not use acetone because it will dissolve the CA glue.
Step 5: Paint the Channel
Paint the groove black with a mixture of clear shellac and Blendal pigment. Dip your brush into the shellac first, then the powder, and mix in a separate cup. Any black paint will work: stain, dye, India ink, nail polish. I like Blendal for its rich deep blackness.
Step 6: Crush and Screen Opal Granules
Although you can inlay almost any type of powder or grained aggregate, I like to use Easy Inlay opal because it has a larger granule size than other suppliers. The 2-3mm particles have bigger facets, therefore they exhibit more fiery refracted elements.
Take some granules and crush them to make them smaller, to use for filling in any voids left by the large bits. You can use a hammer: apply pressure and roll the head over the particles to break them up. Don’t bang the hammer onto the bits because they’ll fly everywhere. Or use a mortar and pestle (or make your own ram, HERE).
After crushing the opal, sift it through a few screens, first using a kitchen sink strainer and then a finer one (I purchased a fine one from a fishing store). Keep the mid-sized bits and finer dust; the larger bits go back into the jar.
Step 7: A Magnifying Visor Can Help
While not critical, a magnifying visor helps you see the inlay process more closely. I like the kind that has interchangeable lenses with different magnifications; this style allows for two lenses to be installed and flipped up and down for a closer look when needed. This visor works with my readers, too.
Step 8: Prepare Your UV-cure Resin
Resin: I love Solarez Hard / Flex Doming Resin—it cures in seconds using a special flashlight or sunlight, and it lets me work fast. It also has high surface tension which holds its shape and won’t run and drip everywhere. In addition, it has a surfactant that allows air bubbles to escape.
To thin or reduce the viscosity of any resin, heat the bottle in hot water, and sometimes I use a syringe to accurately dispense it. I also wrap the syringe with black electrical tape to prevent UV light from reaching the resin and catalyzing it. I use a toothpick as an end cap. After the resin is applied, you can also use a heat gun to reduce the viscosity and help it flow out.
Step 9: Apply Resin Into the Channel
Cut a popsicle stick on one end and use it to apply a small amount of resin into the channel. Coat the channel completely and make sure it gets into the bottom corners, all the way around the ring.
Step 10: Place the Opal Grains
Place the opal grains using tweezers and a toothpick, keeping the pieces as close together as possible. After a few pieces are in place, slide and compress the pieces even more tightly together. TIP: Keep wax paper or a paper plate below your workspace to capture any opal bits that don’t make it into the ring channel.
Step 11: Fill the Remaining Voids
After the entire ring channel is filled with the larger pieces, go back and fill the remaining voids with the smaller sifted bits. Compact everything down with a toothpick.
Step 12: Catalyze the Resin With UV Light
Catalyze the the resin using the UV flashlight that is especially calibrated to the resin; Solarez is 385 nm.
Be sure to wear good UV protective glasses. DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY at the reflected UV light. Cure the resin by putting the light on for 15 seconds,15 seconds off, then 15 second on again. Keep rotating the ring with the light on for a minute of so.
Step 13: Dispense More Resin
Using the syringe, dispense a second, even bead around the entire ring, and keep rotating the ring like a glass blower does. Heat the resin slightly using a heat gun to help flow out the surface tension and release any bubbles. It is important to keep the ring moving and have your flashlight handy.
Step 14: Continue Setting the Resin With UV
Follow the same steps above to set the resin with the UV flashlight.
Step 15: Check the Cure
The UV light cures the resin very quickly; confirm hardness with a thumbnail check. For a little extra curing insurance, IF it is sunny outside, set the ring in direct sunlight for 10 minutes or so. Sunlight has the broadest spectrum of light and is the best source for curing any UV resin.
The process of inlaying opal along with resin coating should take roughly 15 min. Add an additional 10 min for crushing and screening opal into smaller bits.
Step 16: First Sanding
Once the resin is completely set, use a rotary tool like a Dremel or Fordham Flexible Shaft with a coarse grit drum sander on it to grind off any high spots that may exist from opal or uneven resin application.
Pay special attention not to sand too deep; a light touch is required to just kiss the surface, especially when working with a wooden blank. Set the speed at low to medium, because a higher speed can melt the resin and clog the sandpaper quickly.
I use my DIY workstation to rest my hand and stabilize the grinding process. I angle the grinder to kiss the edges while turning the mandrel with my other hand. (I am left-handed; right handers might turn the station around 180 degree.)
Step 17: Continue Sanding
After sanding the high spots by hand with the Dremel, mount the mandrel onto a drill or lathe and sand through grits 120, 240, 320, 400, 600, on medium speed, working the shape of the resin. You can leave it slightly domed or sanded flush. A popsicle stick makes a great sandpaper backer for the process. Be sure to sand the edges of the ring, too.
I sometimes remove the ring from the mandrel and hand sand the ring to refine the shape. I pay special attention to the wood / resin seam, making sure it’s crisp and straight.
Step 18: Throw Away Used Sandpaper
One of the most important tools to have during any sanding operation is a garbage can. It is important to stop sanding and throw away used and clogged sandpaper or else you risk burnishing the surface, which can create excessive heat and melt the resin.
Step 19: Inspect for Bubbles
After this sanding step, I inspect the surface for any minor air bubble holes that are easily be seen by the white sanding dust. Blow the divot clean with canned or compressed air, fill it with a dab of UV resin, and cure with UV light. Then sand flush using the steps above.
Step 20: Clean With Alcohol
Clean the dust off with alcohol and take a first look at the inlay. I love this step.
Step 21: Continue Gluing
Next, apply a coat of thin CA glue and quickly and lightly wipe it once with a paper towel. I like using Gluboost brand CA because their accelerator doesn’t cause the CA to blush (turn white).
Apply and wipe off a second coat of medium thickness CA. These CA glue application steps help fill any minor pin holes or coarse sanding scratches.
Step 22: Continue Sanding
For finish sanding, use micro mesh wet sanding pads: 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000 grits and rinse the pads thoroughly a few times during the sanding process to wash away particles and prevent the pads from clogging.
TIP: After stacking the pads in proper sequence I draw a triangle shape on the side which lets me graphically see if they are in order.
Step 23: Sand the Interior
Remove the ring from the mandrel. Lightly sand the interior with 600 grit and wipe with a coat of thin CA glue. If you have a large glue drip, follow the above sanding sequence.
Step 24: Polish and Buff
With a Dremel, polish the inside and outside of the rim with red rouge and buffing wheels, then white diamond polishing compound, then a dry buffing for a final cleaning.
Step 25: Whiskey Barrel Oak With Easy Inlay Marina Opal
You’re done! Now you can present this beautiful ring to your family members or friends with pride and the satisfaction of creating it yourself.
The cost of material for the above ring is approximately $20 (by amortizing the opal, glue, and flashlight investment) and it takes less than an hour to make. A good minimum starting price for a ring of this quality is $100, which means ring making can be a fun and profitable craft business, too.
If you’d like to learn more about inlay techniques using different types of materials and resins, sign up for my 2.75-hour class HERE, and read what one student said about the class, below:
Robert S. / Verified Buyer / 5.0 star rating / 02/02/21
Amazing Video
This video is one of the best instructional videos I have ever seen. It is excellent quality and shares some of the best instructional tips and techniques on ring making out there. Scott shares is expertise freely and anyone viewing his video will gain a wealth of knowledge from him.
Thank you and ENJOY!